Rosewood History Qld.

Nurse Augusta Wilhelmine DOMROW

Nurse, Midwife, Ladies’ Nurse

Augusta aka Gusta, was born on 16th March 1876 at Lowood to parents Friedrich Wilhelm DOMROW and Wilhelmina Christine Auguste née BERLIN.

On 30th November 1898, she married Frederick August SINAI jnr. (1874-1954). Frederick was from Calvert. His father (also named Frederick August) bought Portion 117 in the parish of Alfred, and was enrolled in the district on 6th September 1893. The farm was on Mort’s Creek.

The ill feeling that quickly developed between Frederick and Augusta came to a head in January 1899. Both of them placed public notices in the Queensland Times about their marital troubles, denying what the other had said and done. Augusta left the house for fear of bodily harm in October 1899. Frederick was working for John Philip Jost near Grandchester at the time and apparently he was dismissed because of the public stoush. (John Jost sold “Jost Vale” to A. J. Cotton in 1901 and it became Hidden Vale.)

Frederick left town and went to Bundaberg where he lived and worked as a labourer at The Cedars, Bingera Plantation, for a some years. He registered as resident there on 12th December 1899 and was still there in 1901. He is listed on the electoral rolls as a farmer at The Leap, Mackay 1912-1923.

Augusta was working as a nurse in Rosewood under her maiden name Domrow by 1910. She opened a private hospital in her own home at 67 John Street in 1911. One of the first mentions of her is in a newspaper story when she attended a tragic incident, the drowning death of 2½ year old Ernest Zornig. The boy fell into the creek running into Mason’s dam, not far away from Gusta’s home, on 22nd February 1911. This mention followed in the form of a birth notice: JUILLERAT—On April 26, at Nurse Domrow’s Private Hospital, Rosewood, the wife of E. Juillerat, of a daughter.

Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld.), Tuesday, 7 April 1914, page 2
WANTED Known – Nurse Domrow, Registered Certified Midwife: In-Patients received, Out-Patients attended daily. Rosewood.

In January 1924, Augusta filed for divorce. She alleged that in back in 1899, Frederick physically assaulted and ill-treated her and made false charges of immorality against her. He had lived apart from her without cause continuously since then. His whereabouts were unknown. Frederick had two months to defend the action. Augusta was granted a decree absolute on 26th May 1924, at Brisbane.

The Catholic Advocate (Brisbane, Qld), Thursday, 23 May 1929, page 5

Augusta helped to deliver many babies but never had any of her own. She was still listed as a nurse in Rosewood on the 1954 electoral roll. She passed away on 11th October 1964 at Ipswich, aged 88 years and is interred at the Ipswich General Cemetery (Baptist A, Row 1, Grave 11).

The old hospital/home in John Street is rumoured to have burned down in 1995.